Raptors crew off to IRB Championships

15th February 2019

The club’s youthful IRB racing crew, the Red Beach Raptors, have headed to Waihi Beach for the North Island IRB Championships and a weekend of high-speed competition.

It will be just their second crack at IRB racing. The U19 crew of Jonah Cleminson (driver), Harry Mellor (crewman), and ‘patients’ Coby Moratti, Matt Hughes and Xavier Bradshaw (replacing Jamie Ward) launched themselves into the sport when they raced at the Northern Region IRB Championships at Ruakaka on 12 January. And they collected two Bronze medals.

This time around they have a tad more experience under their belts. For the first day of racing at Waihi Beach, the surf is expected to be 2’-3’ and offshore. Masters member Rod Moratti is the team manager for the group.

A total of 248 athletes from 17 clubs throughout the North Island are entered for the two-day event.